Biographical research beyond constructivism?

Journal/Book: Soziale Welt. 1999; 50: Annastrabe 7, D-37075 Gottingen, Germany. Verlag Otto Schwartz & Co. 483+.

Abstract: The article deals with constructivist versions of biographical research and its specific strengths and weaknesses. By switching its focus from what- and why-questions to how-questions, contructivism has been able to demonstrate how biographical accounts are staged and presented independently from their specific contents. Constructivism emphasises the irreconcilable difference between an event and the presentation of an event, as any account of biographical events is necessarily selective. The article wants to show, however, that making this difference for an absolute would make social research fundamentally impossible. It is in its central interests that biographical research clashes with the blindness for the historical formation of constructions and the leaving aside of their specific contents that are often typical of constructivist studies. Fritz Schuetz's 'Narrative Interview' and Ulrich Oevermann's 'Objective Hermeneutics' are suggested as two concepts of research that allow to reconstruct the selectivity of biographical accounts from the structural problems of acting in a specific biographical situation. Finally, the constructivist turn of the debate is illustrated by biographical accounts of conversion, and an alternative concept is suggested which adopts some constructivist elements but avoids their anti-realist consequences.

Note: Article Wohlrab-Sahr M, Univ Leipzig, Theol Fak, Abt Relig & Kirchensoziol, Emil Fuchsstr 1, D-04105 Leibzig, GERMANY

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